Cinema-ye Azad: Nasib Nasibi
Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Part of the UCLA Film & Television Archive screening series 2026 UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema. Learn more at cinema.ucla.edu.
Guest speakers: curators Arta Barzanji, Hadi Alipanah (via video).
Cinema-ye Azad, or Free Cinema, was an underground movement of filmmakers in Iran that began in 1969, with the explicit aim of creating a fully independent cinema opposed to the mainstream “Filmfarsi” in both form and content, methods and ideals. Where the better-known, contemporaneous Iranian New Wave predominantly consisted of foreign-educated, Tehran-based middle-class filmmakers, Cinema-ye Azad consisted of self-taught filmmakers, sharing resources and knowledge with one another to bring the possibility of cultural production to disadvantaged provinces. At its height, Cinema-ye Azad boasted hundreds of active members, a critical magazine and festivals around the country, but the dream was short-lived as the movement ceased activities after the revolution. Its works, however, are being rediscovered thanks to the dedication of curators and archivists in London and Iran.
From Isfahan to Abarkooh (1970)
A report on historical buildings, legends and traditions along the route from Isfahan to Shiraz, passing through regions including Mahyar, Shahreza, Ziaratgah, Aminabad, and Izadkhast. The film mixes documentary observation with the poetic vision seen in Nasib Nasibi’s later works.
DCP. Director: Nasib Nasibi. Screenwriters: Nasib Nasibi, Abbas Nalbandian. With: Bahram Ardabili.
How Frightening Is the Darkness of the Soul! (1972)
How Frightening Is the Darkness of the Soul! is an avant-garde film poem about drowning in a world of madness in search of true liberation. It highlights the close connections between literary and theatrical circles and the filmmaker's approach to avant-garde cinema. Initially, the main character attempts to escape the monotony of daily life by immersing herself in a world of madness. The film is a journey through the path she takes.
Director: Nasib Nasibi. Screenwriters: Nasib Nasibi, Abbas Nalbandian. With: Mahvash Bargi, Farhad Majd Abadi, Shokooh Najm Abadi.
The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a division of UCLA Library, and presents its public programs in the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer, among other venues. For more information about the Archive, visit cinema.ucla.edu.
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